


Frozen In Time (Reworked)

by MayHiddles97



Category: Tom Hiddleston - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Vampire Tom, vampire
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-27
Updated: 2016-03-04
Packaged: 2018-05-16 16:27:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5832565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MayHiddles97/pseuds/MayHiddles97
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In 1876, Aleida Harris' life takes a dark twist when she starts to discover the secrets that her closest friend, the curious Thomas Hiddleston, has kept hidden for a very long time. The past that Mr Hiddleston thought he had escaped comes back to haunt him, just when he thought his life was about to change for the better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mr Hiddleston

Aleida Harris loved her flute lessons. Mainly because of Mr Hiddleston, or Tom as she called him - sometimes Thomas when she was frustrated with him. She had met him 10 years ago, in 1866 when she was 9. He was, and remained, a family friend that her father knew from down the street and he had invited him over for tea. That first time, or second as he had apparently held her as a baby, she set eyes on him, he had perfect pale skin without a blemish, long-ish light brown curly hair and beautiful crystal blue eyes that crinkled in the corners when he smiled. She was fascinated by them and still is. They were bright blue but green and clear all at the same time, like none she had seen before.

Years later, Tom didn't look a day past 22, the age he had been when they me. After 10 years, he hadn't changed a bit, not a bit. Or aged at all. Some people had obviously noticed this as well and thought him strange, and although Aleida was curious, she didn't really care. She just wondered how he kept up such a continuous appearance. People sometimes stared at them both if they were out around the street or markets together which she knew made Tom uncomfortable as he didn't like attention being drawn to himself, so she just tried to ignore them and pretend not to hear the comments or rumours.

Aleida had been a small, bubbly nine-year old with long blonde curls that stretched down her back. Over the 10 years she and Tom and known each other, Aleida had transformed and had grown to the height of Tom's chin; a perfect and impressive height, considering Tom's height being six foot one. Aleida at 19, knew that being - just a tad - in love with Tom, now 32 (or so he claimed), wasn't ideal. But she had never had much of an interest in boys at her age because they all seemed so immature and childish compared to Tom. It seemed that Mr Hiddleston had set a very high standard that know body else seemed to be able to reach!

She had also never taken too much interest in befriending the other girls that lived down her street as they were catty and childish, so she tried to avoid them as much as possible. Or maybe it was just the fact that they also had eyes for Tom and she couldn't stand the gossip... She'd never really figured that one out. But Tom never seemed to take much notice of them at various street parties, also having realised they were annoying. Therefore her friends mainly consisted of Michael, another family friend, Rachel and Ada, the house maids, and Tom's butler Oscar. And Tom obviously.

Tom had always been exceptionally kind to her, where some adults would have just brush her aside when she was younger, he always had time for her and would often visit or look after her when her parents went to parties. She had eventually found out that he played the flute, so her 9 year old self suddenly had a new-found fascination in playing the instrument. When she was 15 and asked Tom to teach her to play, he obviously said yes. Her mother and father were delighted that she had finally found an interest in something, as she preferred to stay inside the house for the majority of her time and read rather than go out with friends, even as she grew older. So her parents bought her a flute for Christmas that year and she had got the hang of playing it on her first try, and she loved it; especially with Tom's help.

Present Day (Friday 1st August, 1876) 

Tom stood in one of the upstairs spare bedrooms of Aleida's house, swiftly playing through a new musical piece that he had picked out for Aleida to play, the silver ring on his right hand clicking on the metal every now and then. Aleida herself sat on a loveseat to the side of Tom, head resting on one of her hands with her long blonde hair hanging over the side of the seat as she watched him play. When the piece came to a finish, Tom turned and smiled down at her.

"It's called Chanson Baladée. Do you like it?" He asked, placing the silver instrument down on a little table next to where Aleida, who instantly smiled and nodded, sat.

"Yes I like it. But I don't think I'll be able to play it." She sighed in reply and pulled a face up at Tom. She shifted in her seat and pulled her hand away from her face as Tom fell into the space next to her.

"Why ever not? You're a good player, as good as me, so you have no excuse!" He teased, turning his face towards Aleida and resting his head back against the flat edge of the chair. Eyeing him carefully, Aleida considered this for a moment before poking his cheek playfully. "But you do the thing Tom. I can't do it. How do you do it?" Adding a few more pokes, her hand was seized by Tom who raised an eyebrow, trying his best not to smirk, and held the offending hand up by her wrist.

"What do you mean Leia? There is no cheat to playing the flute!" Tom's smirk appeared this time as he observed Aleida's hand. Smiling at the nickname Tom had come up with a few years ago, having decided her name was "too long", Aleida raised her eyebrow over at him.

"Well for a start, you don't even breathe when you're playing, which must make things a lot simpler! I think I would pass out just playing the first few bars of that piece." Tom grinned his usual grin, with a slither of tongue showing between his teeth and crinkled eyes, as he chuckled and pointed at the sheet of notes on the stand beside the chair and indicated for Aleida to try it, not giving her an answer to her question, as always. Aleida huffed and stood up from the chair, picking up her own flute. "I will get that answer out of you some day." She sighed, not waiting for an answer from Tom before attempting to play the music in front of her.

An hour quickly passed and Tom had played the piece through 6 times due to Aleida's continuing struggle with getting the hang of the order of the notes and ridiculous breathing pattern. She groaned, half-heartedly throwing the flute onto the seat when she had to stop, yet again, after playing the wrong notes, in the wrong bar with the wrong breathing pattern.

"You're playing the first 9 bars perfect Aleida. You're just thinking about the breaks too much and not the playing. You need to keep practising it and you'll have it perfect in no time." Tom puppy-eyed her from where he was standing, which he knew always won her over. Leia did her best to keep her face neutral by tensing her jaw and squinting at Tom slightly. Tom soon won however when his puppy-eye victim's face cracked into a grin and she nodded.

"Yes Tom, I will practise you're damn music piece!" Tom laughed as he packed away his things and zipped it all up into a carrier case. "I hate you." Aleida added, watching him innocently which made Tom laugh again as he came back towards the chair.

"No you don't." He said simply, leaning down to peck a kiss on her cheek as a goodbye as he always did, yet she always blushed and always tried not to. Leia "Hmmfed" and crossed her arms stubbornly, watching Tom open the door and step out into the hallway. "See you tomorrow!" Tom called cheerfully, waving at her as he walked off down the hall.

"Bye Tom!" She called back, snapping out of her stubbornness and waved back as she watched his head disappear down the stairs. Comfortable in the love-seat, she sat and pondered for a while, chewing on the inside of her cheek, a bad habit she always justified with "at least it isn't my nails I chew." A head suddenly appeared around the door, pulling her from her thoughts. Rachel, with dark brown hair pulled back into a tight bun, came into full view in the doorway and smiled at Leia.

"Dinner is ready Aleida. Your mother and father and Tom are already down there." Rachel explained, looking around the room, spotting Aleida's flute still out on the chair. "Would you like me to put that all away for you?" She added, coming further into the room. Leia jumped up from the chair.

"No no. Thanks Rachel, I'll put it away on my way out. Tom? I thought he had gone home?" Leia asked as she dissembled her flute and put it away. "Oh, your mother managed to persuade him to stay for tea again." Rachel smirked when Aleida rolled her eyes and followed her down the stairs.

***

Aleida sat down to dinner with her parents and Tom, who just smirked at her without a word as she sat down next to him. Despite Tom being there, something just seemed...off. It was abnormally quiet between her parents and herself, the atmosphere in the room tense and awkward, making her feel uneasy. Half-way through eating her dinner, she noticed that neither of her parents had actually looked at her and they both looked suspiciously guilty.

"Is everything okay?" She ended up asking reluctantly, watching the reactions of her parents. Catherine, her mother, flinched then looked up at her. Sighing, she put her cutlery down.

"Darling, now that you're nineteen, we thought that you might be alright looking after yourself for a while. And, as you know, it's your father and I's 20th wedding anniversary in two weeks and we've been planning on going away to celebrate." Aleida blinked, not seeing any problem having been left alone at home for a day or two before. She smirked at her father, Owen, and Tom chuckled beside her, as he did a celebratory dance in the chair next to her mother, who smiled and rolled her eyes.

"That's lovely. Where do you plan on going?" Aleida asked, suspicious as to why her mother still looked guilty. Catherine turned her head to look at Owen as if silently begging him to join in the conversation. He looked round at her obliviously - having finished dancing - and then over to Aleida.

"We have bought tickets to go on a beautiful boat to America and back darling!" He grinned as he told her, obviously excited. Aleida's eyes widened at this as they switched between looking at her mother then her father in turn.

"Oh..." Leia squeaked, looking down at her plate and poking at the food with a frown. "Isn't that...quite a long journey?" Catherine and Owen both nodded simultaneously.

"We'll be away for about 3 months Aleida. 6 weeks travelling there, 3 weeks in America and 6 weeks back." Catherine added hastily, not too sure how Aleida was going to react to all this. Leia nodded again slowly, thinking about it. She knew she wasn't a child any more at 19 and could defiantly look after herself, but she still didn't like the idea of being home alone for 3 months. Owen noticed her discomfort and tried to reassure her.

"If you're not comfortable staying here alone, maybe you could stay with someone during the three months?" He suggested. "What about your Aunt Elizabeth? She'd be thrilled to have you!" Owen added, not sure how Leia would react to that one.

"Or you could come and stay with me? Or I with you?" Tom suggested suddenly, not giving Aleida a chance to reply to her father's suggestion. Catherine and Owen both looked equally surprised at this and turned to Aleida for a reply. Leia's heart nearly leapt out of her chest at Tom's suggestion and she turned to him with her eyebrows raised.

"Are you sure?" She asked, not too sure what else to say.

"Yes of course. You know you're always welcome. And it'd be nice to have you around the house." Tom almost stammered nervously before meeting Aleida's darker blue eyes. They stayed like that for a moment, Leia scanning his face for any hidden doubt, before she smiled and nodded.

"I'd love that, thank you." Standing from her seat, she leant over and kissed his cheek gently before sitting back down. Tom smiled and looked down, embarrassed and hiding a blush as Aleida continued to look at the side of his, now red, face which made her smirk.

"Well, I see no problem with that." Catherine spoke up and both Aleida and Tom looked up at this, obviously forgetting Leia's parents were even there which made Tom blush even more.

"Neither do I." Owen managed around a mouthful of food. They both had always known that Aleida and Thomas were very close and loved being in each other's company. There was always giggling and mucking around, heard from downstairs during their flute lessons and they both spent a lot of their time together anyway. "We are due to leave Friday next week but we're not sure what time yet." Tom nodded at the new information but Aleida raised her eyebrows at this in surprise. She hadn't even thought of asking when they were leaving. And neither had Tom for that matter.

"Only next week?! When did you plan on telling me this!" Leia exclaimed, not expecting the departure of her parents to be quite that soon. Tom laughed quietly next to her for whatever reason and she tried to elbow him playfully but Tom effectively blocked her with his own elbow.

"Well...now!" Aleida's mother laughed, finishing her dinner and pushing her plate further back onto the table as Owen eyed some of the left overs left on it. "I suppose we had better get packing then!" Catherine said excitedly, turning to Owen who just rolled his eyes and smiled at her.

"We have a whole week yet Cathy!" He answered, now picking at the food that he had been eyeing on his wife's plate.

"Do you ever stop eating? And yes a whole week is perfect. We all know how long you take to pack!" She retorted, ignoring another eye roll from her husband and standing from her chair. Aleida looked over at Tom and also rolled her eyes at her parents bickering. "Well, I'm going drag Mr Harris away from this food to start his packing before he won't be able to fit on the boat! Thank you so much for offering to look after our girl Thomas. We can relax now and you'll have a great time together." Catherine reached over the table and squeezed Tom's hand, which rested on the table, then hassled Owen up by his arm.

"It's no trouble at all. I look forward to it." Tom smiled. Aleida giggled as she waved at her father who had looked back at them both pitifully, as his wife led him out of the room and up the stairs.

"He hates packing!" Leia laughed again as she watched Owen and Catherine go. Tom laughed along and said his thanks to Rachel and Ada who come to collect the plates from the table. "So, what do you plan on doing for three months?" Aleida asked with a smirk in Tom's direction, who frowned at this and thought for a few moments.

"I have no idea! We'll just have to see what happens." Tom laughed and Leia rolled her eyes again.

"Neither do I-" Aleida started but was cut off when she started coughing for no apparent reason. Tom frowned and rubbed her back as she continued to cough into a napkin that had been on the table.

"Are you alright?" Tom asked, hand still on Leia's back when she eventually stopped coughing. She frowned and dropped the napkin into her lap.

"Yeah, I think so." She croaked, attempting to clear her throat, then smiling up at Tom. "I have an annoying tickle in my throat which makes me cough." Leia explained, rubbing at her neck as Tom continued to frown at her before nodding and leaning back into his chair.

"Maybe we can go on a trip around London at some point?" Tom suggested as Leia sat back as well.

"Definitely. We could visit my aunt on the way as well. She would love to meet a lovely gentleman such as yourself." Aleida teased, watching Tom blush again as he nodded in agreement.

"Sounds like a plan." Leaning forward, Tom kissed Leia's cheek as he had done earlier. "I'd better get going. Oscar will be getting lonely soon!" He laughed, standing up from his seat and walking to the front door with Leia in tow.

"Surely he knows he's always welcome round here?" Aleida asked as Tom opened the front door and turned back round to face her.

"Yes of course he knows! But you know what he's like. He's always too embarrassed and feels as if he's intruding. I'll see you tomorrow?" Tom asked, backing out of the door as he asked, walking backwards into someone else walking up the path towards the front door. Aleida laughed to herself at Tom's face of terror when he collided with the man. He apologised profoundly before waving to Aleida and walking off down the road, four houses down to his own. The man approached the front door holding an envelope which he handed over.

"For Mr and Mrs Harris?" He asked before leaving. Aleida nodded and pointed inside the house.

"I'll give it to them." She answered, looking at the front of the envelope as she closed the door, realising it was her parent's tickets to America which had arrived. Smiling at the envelope, probably just as excited about their holiday as they were now, she hurried up the stairs to her mother and father's room to give them their tickets.

***

_To be continued..._


	2. The Beginning

Chapter 2

Over the span of the remaining week before Catherine and Owen were due to leave for America, Aleida had almost got the hang of Tom's dreaded music piece, much to both of their delights. During Tom's frequent visits, they had managed to think of a few more things they could do other the next three months. They also made the important decision of which house they would stay in - even though the houses only had three others between them. Tom was to stay with Aleida at her house for the first month before they spent the remaining time at Tom's house.

 Friday 8th August, 1876

The morning of her parent's departure Aleida was awoken - at an ungodly hour of the morning - by her extremely excited mother who could barely contain herself. Her and Owen's luggage was already at the front door, waiting to be put into the carriage, which was due to arrive at any moment and Catherine was bustling around ensuring she had packed everything. Leia chuckled to herself when she came out of her bedroom door to meet her, already grumbling, father as he wandered around still half asleep and trying to smooth down his floppy brown hair.

"We really don't have to be up this early Catherine! The boat doesn't even start letting passengers on until eight!" He groaned as he stepped down the stairs carefully with a tight grip on the rail, obviously unhappy about being up at six in the morning. Leia watched her - barely conscious - father struggle down the stairs from her doorway when she heard someone knock at the front door, just as Catherine answered Owen.

"Yes, so we have two hours to make sure we have everything, wait for the carriage and get everything onto the carriage because we need to be early so we don't get caught in the queue to get onto the boat! So we have a perfect amount of time." Catherine insisted.

Aleida sighed and made her way to the front door, neither of her parents having heard the knocking over their bickering. Remembering she was still in her night gown and had unbrushed hair all too late, Leia swung the heavy door open to find Thomas Hiddleston stood in the doorway, already smiling, rather than the driver of the carriage she had been expecting. She watched as Tom's eyebrows raised in surprise and his attempt to hide a smile when he spotted that she was still in her nightdress.

"You look uhh... awake, this morning Aleida!" Tom's smile widened into a grin as Aleida rolled her eyes and sighed, also looking down at the white dress and trying to smooth down her unruly hair.

"It seems everybody knew about having to get up this early other than me!" Leia groaned, running her fingers through her hair to try and get it flat without a hairbrush.

"Come on, come in!" She added as she stepped back, avoiding eye contact, and let Tom pass her into the hallway, carrying his case of clothes and whatever else he had brought.

"Thomas!" They suddenly heard from down the hallway and both looked round to see Catherine, to Leia's relief, looking more excited by the minute. She started fussing over Tom, offering to take his case which gave Aleida a chance to escape and go and get dressed before she could feel any more embarrassed.

"I'll just go and get dressed. I'll be back down soon Tom." Aleida hurried back up the stairs and into her room, immediately brushing her hair and plaiting it.

When she had dressed, Aleida went back to the staircase to find her parents and Tom stood at the bottom talking, obviously still waiting for the carriage to arrive. Actually starting to feel nervous about being with Tom for 3 months, Leia stood at the top of the stairs still, watching him talk to her parents in the charming manner he always did.

Tom's attention was soon pulled from the conversation when Aleida started coughing again, walking down the stairs as she did, so Tom didn't realise she had stood there watching him. A knock came at the door when Leia met Tom at the bottom of the stairs as he watched her carefully.

"A tickle again?" He questioned, Catherine and Owen bustling about with cases and coats behind him.

"Yes... It's really quite annoying." Rubbing at her neck again, Leia smiled up at Tom as her parents started bickering over the cases again. She sighed, drawing her eyes away from Tom's and turned to help her parents carry some of their things out to the awaiting carriage. Tom stepped out as well, insisting on carrying the heavier cases and doing so without struggle.

The excitement in Catherine's eyes started to fade when Owen and herself walked back to the house to say goodbye to Aleida and Tom. Leia smiled, trying to hold back her own tears as her mother wrapped her arms around her, squeezing hard.

"I'm going to miss you so much!" Catherine pulled away, wiping the tears off her face and smiled at Leia and then over to Tom.

"I'll miss you too." Aleida gulped, tears shining in her eyes but not letting them fall.  
"But you'll write won't you?" She added quickly, looking from Catherine to Owen and back.

"Of course we will! We'll keep you updated." Owen responded, hugging Aleida quickly, kissed her cheek then stepped back to where Catherine now stood.

"Behave yourself Aleida!" He called, with a wink, as Catherine and himself walked over to the awaiting carriage. Leia laughed at this, wiping away a tear that had escaped as Tom wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her against his side, seeing how hard she was trying.

"It's not me that misbehaves!" She called back and both her parents laughed as Tom gasped in mock offence, prodding her ribs in reply. Catherine waved, already crying again from inside the carriage as it started to roll away and Aleida and Tom both waved back.

Leia drew in a deep breath and let it back out again slowly, trying to release the tightness in her throat as she tried not to cry, watching the carriage disappear down the misty, cobblestone street and towards the docks. Tom reached for Leia's hand and squeezed it, gently pulling her back into the house and into the dim hallway.

"Come on. They'll have a fantastic time and so will we." Tom insisted happily, a grin returning to his face. Aleida huffed a laugh and let Tom pull her into the living room to collapse on one of the plush red chairs.

"Three whole months of flute practise every day! Fantastic!" He exclaimed, rubbing his hands together in excitement as Aleida groaned and lifted her head from the chair to look at Tom.

"Do you know how boring that would be? We have a whole house and you want to stay in the tiny practise room?" She smirked at him; secretly delighted that she would be spending 3 months with the mysterious man as she smiled at his eye roll.

"Alright, maybe not _every_ day then." Aleida nodded in agreement, happy with that response, resting her head back onto the chair. Tom huffed a laugh and shook his head with a smile.

"Anyone would think I forced you into these flute lessons." Aleida spluttered at this and narrowed her eyes at Tom when he grinned, telling her he was joking.

"Right, I'd better unpack some of my stuff, otherwise it won't get done!" Aleida stretched her legs out as Tom stood up next to her, offering her his hand to pull her up from the chair.

"Would you like some help unpacking all your hats?" Leia smirked as she took Tom's hand and was pulled easily to her feet. Tom quirked his eyebrows and laughed.

"I don't have that many hats Aleida! And I only brought two with me!" He defended himself as they walked back to the stairs.

"Oh really! I bet you have over 20 back at home!" Leia laughed silently behind Tom as she followed him up the staircase which led to another long hall with doors lining the walls on either side. The large window at the end of the hall, which overlooked the quiet street, acted as the main source of light for the long room, with a few candles burning in candle holders on the walls.

Tom headed to the second door on the left of the hall - one of the spare rooms which he had slept in a number of times -and right next door to Aleida's room.

"I could say the same to you about your dresses!" Tom suddenly spoke up again after a moments silence, letting Aleida think she had won that argument.

"You have a _lot_ of dresses Leia." His voice strained as he lifted up his case to flip it over on the bed so it could be opened. Aleida raised an eyebrow as she watched.

"Yes, but having dresses are necessary as I need something to wear! Hats are just accessories that all look the same anyway. And how would you know how many dresses I have? You haven't been shuffling through my wardrobe have you?" Leia asked with a squint of her eyes in Tom's direction, who was still sorting his case. He chuckled quietly, shaking his head as he started to take clothes out from his case, blond curls bouncing at his cheeks.

"Do you not like my hats?" Tom replied with a smile, turning to face Aleida and ignoring her questions. Leia blinked up at him with wide eyes, trying to hold back the blush that she could feel creeping into her cheeks, caused by Tom's gaze.

"I do like your hats. I just prefer to see your curls than a hat on your head." Tom's eyebrows rose in surprise at Aleida's confession as her cheeks steadily turned red. Opening his mouth slightly to say something, Tom's eyes flickered away from Leia's eyes and down to her lips for a split second, which he instantly hoped Leia had missed.

However Aleida's heart pounded painfully at the flicker of Tom's gaze as she watched panic and embarrassment fill his eyes, as if he could hear the loud beating. She looked on with curiosity in her own eyes, holding her breath when Tom didn't break the eye contact.

"I-" Tom suddenly spoke, clearing his throat and taking a step back from Aleida before continuing.

"I had better get on with this." He nodded with a small smile and turned to continue sorting through his clothes. Leia let out a shaky breath and took a step back to sit on a wooden chair by the wide window. Grabbing a book from the little side table quickly, she flicked through it, skimming - or at least pretending to skim - over the printed words.

Aleida's mind reeled, thinking over the times that this had happened before, more so in the last few weeks, and how she'd never been this flustered before. But they'd never been completely alone before. It had only ever happened when her parents were around, or they were at a party where Tom could simply avert his gaze with a slight blush and strike up a conversation with someone.

Aleida knew how she felt. She loved Tom, and probably always would. Even if her parents got her married off to someone else, or by some miracle she ended up married to Tom himself. But she wasn't sure if she was getting the wrong impression from Tom, with the flicking eyes and lingering eye contact, so never said anything in fear that he would stop seeing her. Tom's voice suddenly broke her from her thoughts.

"Aleida?" He asked with a hint of concern in his voice. Leia snapped the book in her hands shut and looked up at him with wide eyes once again.

"I asked if you would like to go out for lunch?" The tall man asked, a hint of a smile appearing on his face.

"Yes! Yes of course. Sorry, I was...reading." She bounced up from where she was seated and followed Tom out of the door, rolling her eyes at her nervous exterior.

 Friday 15th August, 1876

A week quickly passed by without the pair really noticing. A number of flute lessons had taken place - much to Aleida's annoyance - and everything seemed to be going fine, other than the occasional awkward moment which Leia tried to brush off as Tom did. All in all, she enjoyed the extra company with Tom - which wasn't really much of a surprise - and loved being able to do simple things, such as read with him by her side, either reading as well or trying to distract her from reading.

Tom however seemed to start noticing the little things that Aleida did. Like how much bread she ate, the little contact she had with anyone outside of the house or the persistent cough that appeared to have stuck with her for a week or two.

"It's annoying! But I don't think it's anything sinister Tom." Aleida sighed as Tom asked about it once again. The curly haired man sighed as well, giving Leia a pained look.

"Ok!" Tom gave in and held his hands up in surrender.

"But please Leia, if it gets worse, promise me you'll tell me. Or a doctor. Or anyone for that matter." He puppy-eyed her across the wooden table they were sitting at until she huffed and nodded in defeat. Tom seemed satisfied and leant back into the wooden chair.

"Tired?" He asked with a smirk as Aleida yawned widely.

"Yes. It's late. And it's also a lot of work keeping you amused all day! You have endless energy." Getting up from their seats, Tom laughed and tucked his chair under the table.

"That's probably because I eat my food! You hardly even touched your dinner tonight." Tom pointed out with a frown as they made their way towards the staircase, heading to bed.

"I wasn't very hungry." She mumbled in reply.

"I bet if a plate of bread was placed in front of you, you would have eaten it just fine!" Tom teased, watching a smile crack on Aleida's tired face. It was suddenly wiped off her face when Tom decided to pick her up bridal style and begin to carry her up the stairs.

"Ahh! Tom!" Leia cried out in surprise, quickly wrapping her arms around his neck to keep her balance in his arms.

"What are you doing?!" Tom just chuckled and continued up the stairs.

"I'm carrying you up the stairs! You'll start coughing if you climb up the stairs." He explained as Aleida struggled in his arms, only tightening his grip to keep a hold on her. When they reached the top, he placed her back on the floor where she glowered up at him.

"I will not start coughing if I climb up the stairs!" Leia argued, a tad flustered from being picked up so suddenly. Tom just laughed again and opened his bedroom door.

"Goodnight Aleida!" He called as they both went into their rooms and shut the doors.

 Saturday 16th August, 1876

It was still dark when Aleida woke with a start, pulling in a breath too quick which triggered off the cough. Trying to muffle the noise so that she didn't wake Tom, she coughed heavily into the pillow, suddenly feeling very hot and uncomfortable as her chest continued to ache, feeling like her lungs wanted to burst. When the urge to cough finally faded away, she stumbled out of bed to open one of the windows to let some cool air in, knowing she wouldn't be able to sleep in the state she was in. Settling down on top of the bed covers, Leia shut her eyes and tried to relax again.

Having drifted back into a light sleep, a muffled bang from next door - Tom's room - snapped her back, making her jolt and frown up at the ceiling as she listened carefully, still feeling uncomfortably hot. After a few minutes of silence, another thud drifted through the wall. Leia sighed heavily, dragging herself up and off of the bed again, blonde hair swinging at her waist as she made her way to Tom's room - very carefully in the dark - suspecting that she had woken him up with her coughing.

After softly knocking at his door twice however, she got no answer from the man inside. Rolling her eyes, Leia opened the door as carefully as she could - in case Tom was actually asleep - and poked her head round to find him asleep but with a heavy frown on his face, as if he was thinking too hard.

"Tom?" Aleida whispered, just to ensure he was asleep, getting no answer. Before she pulled the door closed, another bang echoed around the shadowy room, much loader being in the same room, making her jump back a step in fright.

Peering back into the room cautiously, she realised that Tom had somehow hit the wooden side table next to the bed with his arm, judging by the lit candle now wobbling dangerously on the edge. Scuttling round the four poster bed, Leia quickly stilled the burning candle so that it settled back onto the table and she sighed in relief.

Eyes wandering over to Tom, only the candle allowing her to see much, Aleida watched the frown on his face grow deeper, deciding it would be best to move the side table away slightly. She was about to leave again before she noticed three jagged white scars on Tom's chest, gasping silently in surprise when she realised they stretched diagonally from Tom's right shoulder and continued under the bed sheet that covered him half-way down his chest, one ending just above. He'd never mentioned them before and she had never seen them before.

Before she had much more time to study the scars, even though she knew she shouldn't, the sleeping man she observed suddenly jolted to life, lurching forward so that he sat up straight with a loud gasp, almost a shout, panic and fear written over his face as he gripped the bedsheets at the sides of his legs. Aleida flinched back in shock - again - as she watched his glowing blue eyes flick around the room, taking in his surroundings, until they stopped on Leia and he frowned.

"Aleida?" Tom's confused voice pierced the silence as he continued to gasp out air heavily, the fear on his face slowly starting to melt away. Aleida let out her own shaky breath slowly - still slightly shaken by the thought of someone crashing around the house - and perched on the side of Tom's bed next to him.

"Are you alright?" the man beside her asked, looking and sounding as if he hadn't just woken up very suddenly. Leia looked at him in disbelief.

"Am _I_ alright?! Well... you almost frightened me to death, Thomas. But you're the one that just sat bolt right up looking as if I was about to kill you!" She said quietly as Tom pulled on a white cotton top with long sleeves which he found at the end of the bed, starting to shiver slightly, even though Aleida still felt considerably warm.

"No, no. It wasn't you that caused that Aleida." Tom groaned, squeezing Leia's hand that was resting between her and Tom. He hesitated for a few seconds, rubbing at his eyes with his free hand as Leia waited for him to continue.

"I have nightmares which can sometimes get out of hand... I'm sorry I should have warned you before. I didn't mean to frighten you." Tom hung his head, looking down at their joined hands with sad eyes. Leia nodded slowly, eyes joining Tom's on their hands.

"Have you seen a doctor about the nightmares?" Tom shook his head instantly.

"I don't think they're anything a doctor could solve." He sighed gloomily, slumping back against the headboard and pulling his hand away from Leia's to place both hands over his face. Aleida observed for a few seconds before shifting towards Tom to sit close beside him, back also against the headboard.

"What do you dream about?" Leia hesitated for a minute before asking, not really wanting to invade Tom's privacy but curious all the same. Tom huffed into his hands then let them slide away from his face, turning his head to look at Leia as fear started to creep back into his eyes.

"You don't have to say!" Leia added quickly.

"If it makes you uncomfortable we won't talk about it." Tom seemed to consider this for a while, staring at the wall opposite the bed with a blank expression as the silence was filled by a clock ticking somewhere.

"There was an accident. Quite a long time ago now, you hadn't even been born." Tom spoke softly, turning to face Leia again, looking a bit nervous.

"A number of my friends and I had a...disagreement with some men. Things quickly got out of hand and a building was set alight with us in it." Tom seemed to struggle at this point, picking at a loose thread from the sheet on his lap anxiously.

"I got out, injured, but alive. But my friends they-" Tom stopped and gulped, starting to tremble again but not because of the chill in the room.

"I tried. I tried to save them but I couldn't and people were holding me back!" Aleida moved closer to Tom, who had started to sound a bit hysterical, so that she was pressed along his side and curled an arm around his own.

She could hardly believe what she was hearing. Tom had very rarely spoken about his past in the time that she had known him, and she had never expected something like this to have happened to the constantly overjoyed and smiley Thomas. Even her parents knew very little, and they'd definitely never mentioned this. Seeing Tom like this, scared and upset to the point he was almost hysterical, made her heart ache being able to see the pain in his eyes which she had never seen before. He almost looked ashamed.

"It wasn't your fault Tom." She murmured sincerely, blinking back tears as she rested her head on Tom's shoulder gently. He sighed in reply and shook his head sadly.

"I've always felt like it was my fault, I was the only one to get out. The nightmares started that night, as soon as I closed my eyes." Aleida looked up at him at this with a frown on her face.

"Don't feel bad for getting out. _Please_ Tom. It wasn't you who set the fire, and there was nothing you could have done. You would have died." Leia pleaded, looking at his eyes but he wouldn't look back, instead settling on anything other than Aleida and looking defeated. The thought of not having Tom around hurt, but the fact that he felt he should have died that day hurt even more.

Returning her head to Tom's shoulder, she added "I'm so sorry" quietly, squeezing his arm tightly. Rather than answering, Tom pulled his arm from Aleida's and moved it behind her neck and around her shoulders to pull her snug against him.

They stayed like that for what felt like hours, until Leia looked up at Tom to find he was asleep, looking more peaceful this time, with his head back against the headboard. Smiling sadly, she let her head fall back to Tom's shoulder and let her eyes fall shut as well, relieved that Tom had calmed down and was sleeping without nightmare.

***

When Aleida next awoke, it was to a tense pain in her neck and early morning sunlight starting to creep through the curtains. Opening her eyes, she realised she was lying flat on her side facing Tom, who watched with a small smirk on his face.

"What are you smirking at?" Leia mumbled, groaning when she moved her stiff neck the slightest inch which elicited a quiet laugh from the man next to her, laying in the same position she was.

"We fell asleep sitting up, so I moved you a little while ago so your neck might loosen up. I don't think it worked." He laughed, testing his own neck by twisting it to the side slightly.

"Mmm. You don't say. Thanks for trying though." She said, giving up on the neck, remaining on the pillow and looking over to Tom who looked considerably better.

"Did you sleep ok for the rest of the night?" Leia asked. She hadn't heard or felt anything further from Tom after they had both fallen asleep, but she wanted to check anyway. Tom tensed slightly at the mention of the night before.

"I did and the nightmares didn't return. Thank you for staying with me." Tom flashed Leia a grateful smile, trying to snuggle more under the bed covers which Aleida suddenly realised she was under as well.

"You never mentioned the nightmares before. I could have... I don't know. I would have done something if I had known." Leia blurted, trying to think of something she could have done to have made him feel better had she known. Tom nodded regretfully.

"I was going to tell you before I came to stay, but the opportunity never arose. And I found that the first night I was fine! No nightmares. And the next night the same, and the next week, up until last night." He hesitated, frowning and looking annoyed with himself.

"I think I've felt more at ease knowing you were just next door. But the dreams overcome everything, it seems." Leia nodded in understanding, glad that Tom was so comfortable in her presence that the nightmares had stopped for a while. Having forgotten about her sore neck, she groaned again when nodding, scrunching up her face in pain.

Tom chuckled when Leia's hair was disturbed and fell in her face which she tried to blow away without moving her neck. She felt Tom shift closer to her and his arm suddenly appeared from underneath the blankets and moved her blonde hair back gently, tucking it behind her ear with a small smile as his knuckles brushed her cheek softly.

"Thanks." Aleida muttered in reply, trying desperately to hold back a blush filling her cheeks for what felt like the fiftieth time in a week. She watched - from a very close distance - as Tom's smile was covered by a frown suddenly.

"You're very warm Leia." The much cooler man said with concern, covering Aleida's forehead with his big hand. Leia sighed at the cool skin on her own very warm skin. She had felt hot and uncomfortable since she had woken up the night before and still unsure of the cause.

"I'm _fine_ Tom." Leia insisted, raising her own eyebrow when Tom raised his at her. He smiled again in defeat and shook his head, still not convinced. They fell into a comfortable silence for a while, until Tom's bright eyes started to wonder over Aleida's face.

Leia felt her heart squeeze at this, as it did every time Tom let his gaze slip away from hers. But this time felt different. Tom didn't try to escape the situation by averting his gaze or busying himself with something else, so neither did she.

Aleida's heart went into overdrive as Tom slowly moved his head a tiny bit more across the pillow that they were sharing so that his nose bumped with hers.

She stared with wide eyes, not daring to breathe as Tom hesitated with his eyes almost shut, which Leia suspected was to give her the chance to escape. But she stayed dead still, praying that her cough wouldn't decide to make an appearance at this point.

After a few long seconds, Tom finally closed the distance and pressed his soft lips against Aleida's gently. Leia closed her eyes, eyebrows raised in surprise as she returned the kiss by pressing her lips more securely against Tom's. She felt one of his arms come between them and fingers press under her chin to get a better angle as he pulled back and captured her top lip.

Tom pulled back, remaining close, and sighed heavily. Aleida felt the air wash over her face and opened her eyes - for the second time that morning - to find Tom going through states of fear, panic and embarrassment, keeping his eyes shut.

He opened them after what felt like an age and immediately met Leia's, whose heart sank at the regret and embarrassment she could see in the blue eyes which moved further away when Tom moved back on the pillow.

"I'm so sorry Aleida. I-I shouldn't have done that. It was... inappropriate." The flustered man stumbled over his words and sat up quickly, sheets pooling at his waist. Leia sat up as well, slightly uncomfortable at this point and looked over at Tom, trying to keep a frustrated and forlorn expression from her face which she knew Tom would detect if she wasn't careful.

At a loss for words she tried to get her brain functioning again and decide what to do with herself. She settled on getting off the bed with wobbly legs and heading back to her own room. Making it to the wooden door successfully, Aleida stopped and turned to Tom who watched from his bed still with wide eyes.

With a small smile Leia tried to convey that she was perfectly ok with what had just happened, even if Tom - still looking ashamed - held no interest whatsoever and it was just a mistake. Aleida opened the door and stepped out, closing it behind her gently and releasing a shaky breath as she left Tom in the silence of his room again. 

***

 


End file.
